Seven infants have reportedly died in Malda Medical College and Hospital in the past 24 hours.

Hospital authorities claimed all the seven infants were of “low birth weight” and were referred to Malda hospital from different hospitals in a critical state.

“The infants who have died were of low birth weight. They were referred to the hospital from other heath centres. Most of them died of choking and abnormal breathing,” said hospital’s deputy superintendent Jyotish Chandra Das. He added the deaths were not due to “medical negligence”. The hospital authorities said most of these cases were of non-institutional delivery.

The hospital was upgraded from a district hospital to a medical college in 2011 to cater to North Bengal.

Deaths of at least eight children over 48 hours was reported in the same hospital in June.